Post-hole shovel.



INVENTO R:

PATENTED OCT. 10, 1905.

L. STRITTER.

POST HOLE SHOVEL.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 24 1905 WITNESSES:

ATTORNEY.

LOUIS STRITTER, OF EAS" ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

POST-HOLE SHOVEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed M y 24,1905. Serial lio- 262,023.

No. 801,557. Patented Oct. 10, 1905.

To 1L7] whom it puny concern;

i at its upper segmental end concentric with Be it known that I, LoUIs Srnrrrnn, a citisaid pivotal bearing 9 the said shank is prozen of the United States, residing at East Orvided with a series of ratchet-teeth 12, adaptange, in the county of Essex and State of New ed to be engaged by a pawl 13, pivoted to 60 Jersey. have invented certain new and useful the handle 10, at 1-1, and having a handle Improvements in Post-Hole Shovels; and Ido projection 15, extending in a direction aphereby declare the following to be a full, clear, proximately parallel with the said handle 10. and exact description of the invention, such The weight of the pawl at its free toothed as will enable others skilled in the art to which extremity is ordinarily sutiicient to cause the 5 IO it appertains to make and use the same. refer tooth 16 to enter into holding relation with ence being had to the accompanying drawings, the ratchet-teeth. The wide ratcheted part and to numerals of reference marked thereon, of the shank is centrally slotted or recessed which form a part of this specification. in a direction parallel with the plane of the The objects of this invention are to facilisaid wide part, and in said slot or recess is 7 tate the operation of digging post-holes and inserted the handle 10, which is reduced in to enable the work to be performed with width to enter and work in the said slot. greater ease and to secure other advantages As will be seen in Fig. 3, the turned slotted and results, some of which may be referred end 8, to which the blade is fixed, lies subto hereinafter in connection with the descripstantially at right angles or perpendicular to 75 tion of the working parts. the edge 62 of the segment lying toward the The invention consists in the improved blade, and thus the segment does not lie on shovel for digging post-holes and the like and or overhang the blade, and so interfere with in the arrangements and combinations of parts the digging operation by occupying a portion of the same, all substantially as will be hereinof the dirt-supporting surface of the shovel, 80 after set forth, and finally embraced in the and the dirt is prevented from interfering clauses of the claim. with the pivotal movements of the handle or Referring to the accompanying drawings, the operation of the pawl. in which like numerals of reference indicate The parts thus described are so disposed as corresponding parts in each of the figures, that when the blade of the shovel is in posi- 5 0 Figure 1 is a front elevation of the improved tion to enter the ground the handle will lie shovel. Fig. 2 is a section of the same on line in a position parallel or approximately par- :0, and Fig. 3 is a side elevation. allel with the said blade, and the ratcheted In said drawings, 5 indicates the blade of edge of the said shank will lie forward from the shovel, having a ratcheted shank 6 fassaid blade. The bladebeing pressed into the 9 3 5 tened thereto or formed integrally thereon, ground, the handle is turned forward on its said shank extending up beyond the upper pivot so that the pawl-tooth 16 will engage a extremity of the blade. Clear above and forward tooth 12, after which downward presaway from said upper extremity of the blade, sure on the handle will cause the said blade so as not to permit any interference thereto assume an approximately horizontal posi- 95 4 with by the dirt piled upon said blade, said tion, and thus support and carry more or less shank is provided with a segmental portion of the dirt or earth at the bottom of the post- 61, on the curved edge of which are the hole vertically upward as the handle is drawn ratchet-teeth 12, as hereinafter referred to. from the hole.

I prefer that the ratcheted shank shall have Having thus described the invention, what the construction illustrated more clearly in I claim as new is Fig. 2, in which the said shank is shown pro- 1. 'lheimproved shovel, havingablade with vided with a slot 7 at its lower turned end 8, a projecting and ratcheted shank the ratchetin which slot the blade 5 is inserted and held teeth of which are up and away from the upby welding, rivets, or other suitable means. per edge of the blade, a handle pivoted on said 5 5 Forward of the slotted portion thus described shank and having a pawl thereon adapted to the said shank is enlarged and given the form engage the ratchet-teeth of the said shank. of a segment of a circle which lies in a plane 2. Theirnproved shovel, havingablade with at right angles to the blade. Near the lower a forwardly-projecting shank having a slotted or forward edge of the enlargement or segand ratcheted enlargement lying in a plane at I I0 ment, between the ends thereof, is a pivotal right angles to said blade, and a handle pivbearing 9, adapted to receive a handle 10, and oted on said shank and having a pawl pivoted thereon adapted to engage the ratchet-teeth of the said shank.

3. The post-hole shovel herein described,

comprising a blade, a segmental shank With a lower end to which the blade is fastened, the edge of the segment lying toward the blade being perpendicular to said turned end and lying up and away from the upper edge of the blade, said shank having teeth, a handle pivoted on said segment and a pawl pivoted on said handle and engaging said teeth.

4. The improved shovel herein described, comprising a blade, a shank having a segment lying in a planevperpendicular to the plane of said blade, the curved edge of said segment LOUIS STRITTER.

lNitnesses:

CHARLES H. PELL, RUSSELL M. EVERETT. 

